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Our monthly websites allow us the opportunity to show you a little of what we have been working on thus far. JupiterEd is a great tool we encourage you to use to remain up to date regarding your child's grades. Also, we send out weekly newsletters every weekend which will help keep you up to date on weekly quizzes, tests, projects, assignments and in general "the happenings" in the middle school.​​

As always, thank you for your support and should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Our Lower School Buddies!One of Riverview's missions is to create a learning community where the whole child can be nurtured. Our "Buddy" program is a wonderful example of how we are making this happen within our middle school. Our 7th graders are assigned a "buddy" in kindergarten,3rd and 4th grade. Through the buddy program, we are able to introduce our young friends to 21st century skills and form lasting relationships.

7th GradeSocial StudiesSeventh grade historians have investigated the synergy involved in Nationalism, the Industrial Revolution, and Imperialism during the second trimester. We have analyzed the essential questions: "How and why do structures unite," in order to gain the enduring understanding: "When multiple structures come together, the end result is sometimes greater than the parts." Students have had fun researching and creating "Facebook pages" on key players from the French Revolution who joined forces to fight for equality and brotherhood. After learning about the spirit of nationalism which inspired countries including Germany and Italy to unite, students worked in groups to "Create a Country." They also discovered the evidence of synergy during the Industrial Revolution, when new technology and inventions allowed people to dramatically increase production using the same raw materials which had always been available. Students worked in groups to research and create visual aids which they used to teach the class about key inventions during the era. Finally, in order to gain an understanding of why countries participated in imperialism, students engaged in an imperialism simulation game, in which teams competed to acquire territories around the classroom and the "natural resources" within each.

7th Grade English Language Arts Our second trimester began with "The Power of Debate" unit. Students were given real world examples of argumentative writing and evaluated what made each essay effective. Then, students used Philosophical Chairs to informally debate high interest topics. Next, they researched “Should grades be given in schools?” and “ Should cell phones be restricted from the school environment. Then, they used the Philosophical Chairs format again to argue their views. This allowed them to see the value of research and preparation when speaking or writing persuasively. To conclude, students worked through the writing process creating their own argumentative essays. Our 2nd unit, "Rhetorical Analysis of Famous Speeches", continued our study of how writers use language in a purposeful way to carry out their message. Students learned about Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle and how writers use logos, pathos, and ethos to persuade their audience. They used strategies of how to break down speeches into parts and analyze how the parts work together or "synergize" to create a certain effect. Speeches analyzed were:President Lincoln’s, “Gettysburg Address” Dr. Martin Luther King’s, “I Have a Dream” speechLou Gehrig’s Farewell speechRonald Reagan’s Space Challenger Disaster speech FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address

7th Grade Science

This trimester, we have been investigating cells and parts of cells. Students explored the differences between plant, animal, protist, and bacteria cells. We learned how the cells of different types of organisms are different in size, shape, and components. In addition, we gained a greater understanding of how structures within cells contribute to the functioning of the cell. We have had many opportunities to reflect on how the SYNERGY between all of the structures of a cell contribute to the survival of all living things. ​Our current area of study has shifted to bacteria, their cellular structure, and how bacteria can be harmful and helpful to humans. Students have sampled areas around the school and are analyzing where bacteria are found in our school environment.

Algebra 1 - Mrs. CoolerBefore the winter break, students participated in some fun winter themed STEM challenges which are pictured below. Since the start of 2018, students have been hard at work learning about Systems of Equations and Inequalities. This is such an important unit of study as it can be used often in the real world to compare costs of services for anything ranging from gym costs to pet care to cell phone plans and far beyond that. We have also begun circling back to review lessons from early in the school, as well as grade level material.

7th Grade Math- Mrs. Kolb

Our second trimester focuses on the fundamentals of algebraic thinking. Students are discovering the synergy in math as they use variables, constants, and coefficients together to solve real world problems. Some students continue to delve into the concept of expressions and how to factor multiple expressions.